I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lawn edger and more specifically to a debris deflector for a vertical drive shaft lawn edger.
II. Description of the Related Art
Lawn edgers are well known in the art and are widely used in maintaining the appearance of lawns. They are primarily used to trim grass or cut a border between a lawn and adjacent walks, driveways, curbs, etc.
The prior art edgers typically use a horizontal output shaft that rotates a vertical cutting blade. The edger is manipulated by the user in a substantially upright position. Front and rear wheels bear upon the walk or driveway guiding the cutting blade.
The rotation of the blade tends to propel the lawn edger in a forward direction. The rotation of the blade is accomplished by a vertical drive pulley which rotates a vertical driven pulley through a V-belt. The driven pulley rotates the cutting blade, which has a horizontal rotational axis.
In operation, the blade projects downwardly into grass, dirt and other debris thereby cutting a border between the lawn and the adjacent surface. This operation projects grass, dirt and other debris are projected in a variety of directions, including rearwardly toward the operator. This debris can result in injury to the operator and to other neighboring elements such as, aluminum siding, brick, etc.
The prior art lawn edgers utilize a blade guard to protect the blade and eliminate some flying debris. However, the blade guard does not extend around the rear of the blade. The rear portion of the blade must be open to allow the blade to rotate properly. If the rear portion of the blade is not open the blade guard would prevent rotation of the blade due to the debris being caught between the blade and the blade guard.
In operation, the operator must maintain a line-of-sight with the blade and the edge to which he is cutting. Prior art debris deflectors have been mounted close to the cutting blade, thereby obstructing the line-of-sight of the operator. This often leads to the operator cutting too close to the rigid surface thereby damaging the lawn edger.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved debris deflector for a lawn edger that is simple in design, effective in use, and overcomes the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.